The engine of choice became the Kawasaki Ha-9-IIb V12 inline outputting at 850 horsepower and driving a three-bladed propeller unit at the nose. Performance included a maximum speed of 265 miles-per-hour with a cruising speed near 185 mph, a service range out to 1,220 miles, a service ceiling up to 29,265 feet, and a rate-of-climb of 1,500 feet-per-minute.
Standard armament included a single 7.7mm machine gun in a fixed, forward-firing installation partnered with a 7.7mm machine gun on a trainable mounting in the rear cockpit. Beyond this was a modest bomb carrying capability totaling no more than 992lb of conventional drop ordnance (held internally). With this arrangement, the aircraft could dive bomb ground targets or strafe with equal lethality - it also retained a limited capability to engage intercepting enemy aircraft.
On the whole, the design held much in common with contemporaries in the Aichi D3A1, Mitsubishi Ki-30, Mitsubishi Ki-51, and Fairey Battle.
Despite the selection of the Mitsubishi design, the fate of the Ki-32 changed when the IJA found itself in need of warplanes during the late 1930s and moved to resurrect the Kawasaki light bomber - indeed the Ki-32 went on to outpace the rival Ki-30 in terms of production quantity. Following service approval, the Ki-31 entered serial production which spanned from 1938 until May of 1940 and this resulted in a total of 854 aircraft being built. The series was quickly baptized during the bloody Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and proved serviceable enough until technology gains overtook it by 1942 - at which time the series was relegated to training and other second-line roles. Comparatively, 704 Ki-30 attackers were produced into September of 1941.
The reliability issues inherent in the inline engine was never truly ironed out and forced a Japanese continuation with reliance on air-cooled radial powerplants for the foreseeable future.
The Ki-32 served no fewer than seven Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) squadrons for its time in the air and also went on to see operational service with the Manchukuo Air Force and, in 1945, with Indonesia (captured specimens). In the latter, many were lost in the Indonesian National Revolution of 1945-1949.
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